Gladiator
Gladiator, and its updated version G2, was one of several featherweights from Team BlazerBotics, which competed in the Featherweight Championships from the second series of ''Robot Wars Extreme'' and the seventh series of Robot Wars. It reached the final in the Extreme 2 championship, but was eliminated from the heat stage in Series 7 after its batteries were knocked out. Versions of Gladiator Gladiator Gladiator was a tall box-shaped robot with two large wheels on the outside, and a small pneumatic lifting arm for weaponry, although it was not used in either of its Extreme 2 battles. It demonstrated good pushing power, but could not self-right when stranded on its rear. The original Gladiator boasted a higher top speed than its successor, at 7mph. G2 Gladiator returned in the Seventh Wars as G2. It featured a top speed of 4mph, and possessed thinner wheels and its armour needed to be filled with holes in order to meet the weight limit, but otherwise G2 had a similar design to Gladiator.. The TV show erroneously referred to the robot as Cheese 2 due to a scripting error. The Team Gladiator was built by Team BlazerBotics, nowadays Team MAD, consisting of the young brothers Dave and Alan Young. Whilst Alan Young entered the Featherweight Championships of Extreme 2 and Series 7 with separate robots, Gladiator was controlled by the younger brother Dave in both of its appearances. In Extreme 2, older brother Alan also joined the team for the final, after his robot Flybot had already been knocked out in the first round. A female team member, presumed to be a family member, was also present in the booth for this fight. Dave Young also drove the antweight Hades, and would later become a Robot Wars champion, after driving Apollo to success in Series 8. Robot History Extreme 2 In its heat, Gladiator was placed up against Dragon, Dragon, Kitty, Micro-Mute and another robot from Team BlazerBotics: Flybot. Gladiator began the battle by activating the pit release button, and then attacking Micro-Mute. Gladiator's teammate Flybot managed to get itself and Kitty in the pit, before Cutlet shoved in Dragon, putting Gladiator through to the final, as three robots had fallen. Regardless, Gladiator then came in and shoved Team Coyote's machine, but failed to push it into the pit with its first attack. After reversing and charging again, Gladiator pitted Cutlet with its second shove. Shortly after this, having qualified already, Micro-Mute then dived into the pit, and as Gladiator drove behind Refbot near the edge of the pit, Refbot reversed, pushing Gladiator into the pit as well, with the House Robot falling in too, crushing the featherweights. Nevertheless, Gladiator, Cutlet and Micro-Mute lasted the longest, so they progressed to the final. In the final, Gladiator was placed up against Cutlet and Micro-Mute again, as well as Argh!, Bernard and Katnip. In this battle, Gladiator was chased by Katnip, but ignored it and activated the pit release button straight away once more. Gladiator then returned to the action and attacked Katnip, pushing it into the side of Argh!, who was subsequently pushed into the spinning Micro-Mute. Argh! attacked Gladiator's exposed wheel, and also tore small bits of side armour off it,, before Micro-Mute drove under it and Katnip, shoving both robots across the arena floor. After slipping off Micro-Mute, Gladiator spun round on the spot, before turning to attack Katnip once more, this time shoving it from the side. After bumping into Argh!, Gladiator was attacked by Katnip, before being pressured into the path of Bernard, who deflected Gladiator away with a spin. At this point, Micro-Mute knocked a wheel off of Katnip, and Gladiator continued to target the vulnerable machine, before a attack from Argh! flipped Gladiator up onto its rear. Micro-Mute then charged underneath Gladiator once more and pushed it across the arena, before Gladiator hit the Floor Spinner button. Gladiator clashed with Cutlet briefly, with both robots circling each other in an attempt to breach each other's ground clearance. Unsuccessful, Gladiator attacked Bernard, but received a hit to its rear from Argh!. While Bernard was trapped on the lip of the pit by Argh!, Gladiator was attacked by Cutlet, with its opponent's wedge proving lower to the ground than Gladiator's flipper. Cutlet was then separated from Gladiator by Argh!, and Cutlet was immobilised soon after, whilst Micro-Mute became caught under an angle grinder. By this point, it became clear that Gladiator's right wheel had seized up, and it could only drive in circles, leaving it vulnerable to Argh! who, having immobilised Bernard and Cutlet, then used its wedge to drive underneath Gladiator, and this push appeared to fully immobilise Team BlazerBotics' machine. Unable to defend itself, Gladiator took damage to its front armour from numerous attacks from Argh!, before Argh!'s final attack tore Gladiator's wheel off. Despite this, Gladiator was not counted out by Refbot, and it survived to a Judges' decision when cease was called, as did the immobile Bernard, Cutlet and Micro-Mute. However, the Judges unanimously voted for Argh!. Series 7 Gladiator returned as G2 for Series 7, where it fought Alpha, Cygnus X3, Kitty, Mini-Maul, Prince of Awe and Rip. G2 began slowly, and was flipped from behind by Prince of Awe, the attack throwing it into the path of Rip. Rip threw G2 back over, and G2 then missed a flip on the already immobile Mini-Maul. After just avoiding another flip from Rip, G2 turned away and attacked Prince of Awe from the side, but once again G2 missed its flip. G2 was then attacked by Kitty, which then retreated away from G2 as it lined up another flip. Rip came in and flipped G2 over, and as G2 attempted to right itself, it was flung back over by Rip again. After righting itself, G2 nudged into Kitty, before chasing Cygnus X3 into a CPZ and flipping it over, where it could not self-right. It then lifted Rip up from behind slightly, but drove away while Rip was attacked by Mr Psycho. Kitty was later pushed into Gladiator by Alpha, and Team BlazerBotics' machine received a hit to its wheel soon after from Kitty. G2 was then flipped over by Prince of Awe, but as it was righted by another Prince of Awe flip, Kitty came in for another attack, which ripped G2's batteries out, immobilising it instantly. This was an act of vengeance from Extreme 2, where G2's teammate Flybot had pitted Kitty. Immobilised, G2 was placed on the Floor Flipper with Cygnus X3, and the flipper threw G2 out of the arena and Cygnus X3 into the pit, just as cease was called. G2 was eliminated, while Prince of Awe and Rip advanced to the final. Results |} |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 2 Series Record NOTE: Monte, a robot built by Team MAD, was also loaned to Paul Streeter in order to enter the 2016 pilot Outside Robot Wars During the time Robot Wars was off-air, G2 was succeeded by G3, a wedge-shaped featherweight armed with a much more powerful flipper. It competed at Robots Live! events run by its team. Trivia *Before Series 8, Gladiator was the only robot from Team MAD to win a battle in the televised show, as it qualified for the Extreme 2 Featherweight Final. *In both of Gladiator's heats in the Featherweight Championship, it fought against another robot from Team BlazerBotics (Flybot in Extreme 2, and Alpha in Series 7). *The third version of the Gladiator series, G3, made a cameo appearance in Heat 1 of Series 10, in a family photo of Dave and Alan Young. Category:Featherweights Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena Category:Robots from Leicestershire Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots with acronyms for names Category:Robots which debuted in Extreme 2 Category:Robots with alternate versions